Scientific American

Exoplanet Building Blocks Found around White Dwarfs

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:40:08 EST

Watch for falling rocks. Those are words to keep in mind when you’re driving a mountain road. Or, it seems, when you’re cruising past a white dwarf star.

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Milky Way Makes Small Massive Gain

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:46:08 EST

Weighing the Milky Way is no easy task. It’s not like you can just step outside the galaxy and place it on a humongous scale.

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Space Scope Spots 3 Possibly Habitable Planets

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:37:08 EST

The search for habitable, Earth-like planets keeps turning up promising candidates. And although astronomers have yet to find an Earth twin, some newly discovered worlds are pretty interesting in their own right.

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Amateur Astronomers Spot Missing Russian Mars Lander

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:00:08 EST

For a brief moment, it was the robot king of Mars. Then it shut down unexpectedly and was lost for good.

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Water Ice Found across Saturn System

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:00:08 EST

Saturn’s rings and moons are a diverse group, but some of their differences are only skin deep. A new analysis of the Saturnian system shows that the planet’s rings and satellites have at least one compositional characteristic in common. They appear uniformly stocked with water ice, dating from their formation in the early solar system.

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Universe May Be a Titch Older

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:40:08 EST

Our universe has long passed for a 13.7-billion-year-old, but it turns out it’s really a bit more elderly. So says new data from the European Planck satellite.

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Unfinished Chile Observatory Makes Starry Discovery

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:37:08 EST

Billions of years ago the universe was a star-forming machine. Some galaxies were churning out a star every few hours. But today the Milky Way produces maybe a couple of stars annually. Now a study shows that the busy period of star formation was in full swing earlier than had been thought.

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Nearby Star Came In with the Bang

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:25:08 EST

There's an old-timer in the neighborhood, and it's got a story to tell. A new study of a relatively nearby old star shows that it’s almost as old as the big bang itself.

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Third Van Allen Belt Came and Went

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:46:08 EST

Back in 1958, at the dawn of the space age, physicist James Van Allen discovered that the Earth is ringed by high-energy charged particles. Held in place by the planet’s magnetic field, these bands of radiation were named the inner and outer Van Allen Belts. They’re of particular interest to NASA as they pose a potential danger to spacecraft.

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Shoo Away Asteroids with a Coat of Paint

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:15:08 EST

Since that meteor streaked through Russian skies on February 15th a lot of people have been thinking about asteroid defense.

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Meteor Shocks Russian City

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:05:08 EST

The Russian city of Chelyabinsk had a rude awakening early on February 15th when a meteor exploded overhead. The blast wave shattered windows and injured an estimated 1,000 people. Based on preliminary evidence from infrasound stations built to monitor nuclear tests, this looks to be an historic event.

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Curiosity Drills Mars for Answers

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:39:08 EST

The Curiosity rover has achieved plenty of firsts in its six months on Mars. And the last first is especially noteworthy: on February 9th, Curiosity made the inaugural run of its drill, boring into a rock to extract a sample from the interior. It thus became the first robot ever to drill on Mars.

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Past-Prime Star May Still Produce Planets

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 06:30:08 EST

In planet formation, as in adolescence, you’ve got your late bloomers. Such is the case for a nearby star called TW Hydrae. At some three million to 10 million years of age, it’s relatively old for a young star. That is, TW Hydrae formed much more recently than our sun but is past the point at which most fledgling stars are still encircled by a massive disk of dust and gas--the stuff of planet formation.

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Gamma-Ray Burst Fingered for Carbon 14 Spike in A.D. 774

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:27:08 EST

The year is 774 A.D. A blast of energy from outer space hits Earth. No one alive then seems to have been aware of it. But the event was recorded--in the trees. Last year researchers announced that tree-ring data from 774 and 775 show a sudden spike in radioactive carbon 14. The uptick points to a burst of charged particles or high-energy radiation that struck Earth. But what caused it?

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Following Flare-Ups, Star Finally Explodes

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:26:08 EST

As Dr. Soran, the bad guy in the movie Star Trek: Generations, found out, blowing up a star sometimes takes a few tries.

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Mars Flight Habitat Volunteers Lost Sleep and Fitness

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:03:08 EST

Last week on the podcast we talked about space health. Specifically, we told you about a new paper discussing the role that physicians will have to play in determining which citizens are fit enough for commercial jaunts into space.

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Civilian Spacefarers Face Medical Hurdles

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:20:08 EST

Let’s say you’ve saved up 200 grand for a trip to space with Virgin Galactic. Lucky you. But are you healthy enough to fly? You’ll have to talk with your doctor.

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Titan Sports Hydrocarbon Nile

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:08:08 EST

You’ve heard the old saying: "Da Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt." And it’s true. The Nile, as it turns out, is also a river on Titan --provided you squint and take a little creative license with your nomenclature.

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Should Mars Get Another Rover?

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:44:08 EST

If you’re looking for a public figure with an astronomical approval rating, think Curiosity. The Mars rover has been a huge hit in terms of both public and scientific interest.

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3-D Printer Makes Structures with Lunar-Like Material

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:01:08 EST

Imagine that you’re stationed at a lunar colony, some decades in the future, when your moon monkey wrench breaks. You have two choices: wait for a replacement tool in the next cargo shipment a month away, or just make one on the spot. The do-it-yourself option recently got a boost, when researchers demonstrated the feasibility of 3-D custom parts printing using raw materials available on the moon.

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